Morning routines are one of the best ways I found to get me into the right mood for the day and give my kids something they can look forward to each morning with dad. Since our kids seem to roll out of bed at equal intervals between 6:00am and 7:00am this works especially well for me.
For my 21 month old, a little invention called YouTube is just the thing. I sit on my stool near the kitchen counter, coffee in hand, Gabe in my lap while we watch Goo Goo Dolls do a rendition of “Slide” with Elmo. Or, Norah Jones doing “I don’t know why” with Elmo. Gabe is lit up like a Christmas tree with smiles and I only spend 5 minutes watching two Elmo videos. And you know what, the kids seem to know that it is just 1-2 videos and we are done. No guilt for sticking them in front of the TV for an hour. Everyone WINS!
